Fugitive economic criminals return to the country, there is no other option: Modi

New Delhi, Dt
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has warned fugitive criminals fleeing the country for committing economic crimes that they have no choice but to return to the country. The government is using all kinds of channels, including diplomacy, to bring them back. The Prime Minister, meanwhile, advised banks to promote wealth-generating and employment-generating industries and make efforts to increase the country's balance sheet along with their balance sheets.
Addressing a forum on 'Lending and Economic Growth', Prime Minister Modi said, "We are relying on policies and laws to bring the fugitive economic criminals back to the country and diplomatic means are being used for this." He added that the message for fugitive economic criminals was clear - return to their homeland. We will continue our efforts for that. The prime minister did not name any economic criminals. But his government has in recent times stepped up efforts to extradite fugitive criminals like Vijay Mallya and Nirav Modi.
The Prime Minister said that the government has taken proactive steps to recover Rs. 2 lakh crore has been recovered and the recently formed National Asset Reconstruction Company (NARCL) will also help in resolving the stressed assets of Rs 2 lakh crore.
He added that the condition of banks has improved a lot since his government came to power in 2014. Indian banks are now in a strong position to infuse new energy into the country's economy. This will pave the way for India to become self-reliant. The Prime Minister also asked the banks to be proactive in providing loans to the industries which are creating wealth and employment opportunities. Prime Minister Modi said that banks should also work with him to improve the country's balance sheet.
The Prime Minister said that banks now need to get rid of the old culture of 'approving' loans by abandoning the old culture to help in the development of business sectors. He also advised banks to adopt a partnership model with industry. We have solved the problem of NPAs of banks, new capital has been invested in banks. He also asked the bankers to provide compromise to the companies, MSMEs as per their requirement. He added that instead of waiting for customers to come to the bank, you should go to the customers. The Prime Minister said the NPAs of banks were the lowest in the last five years. He also advised banks to adopt FinTech.
Introducing the framework of India's stance on new technologies, the Prime Minister said that the country was now investing in developing indigenous capabilities in various fields including telecom technology, 3G and 3G. Today, India has a digital identity of a population of 120 crore, today six lakh villages are connected through broadband connectivity. The UPI country has the most effective payment technique in the world. 200 million Indians are using the internet and 20 million people are using smart phones. Today we are the largest consumer of data per capita and we have the lowest rates of internet there.